North Carolina trails · Laurel Mountain
Laurel Mountain
A 7.0-mile out-and-back in North Carolina, with 1,743 ft of climbing. Reaches Turkey Spring Gap and other pass/summit destinations. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
Elevation profile
The climbing leans toward the final third: 48% of the ascent falls between mile 4.7 and mile 7.0. It climbs almost continuously, with little descent to recover on.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- Turkey Spring Gap (pass)
- Johnson Gap (pass)
- Sassafras Gap (pass)
- Rich Gap (pass)
- Good Enough Gap (pass)
- Laurel Mountain (summit)
Getting there
LAUREL MTN TRAILHEAD — parking nearby. About 50 min drive (23 mi, 3 of them unpaved) from Brevard. 35.39447, -82.67691 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On October 14, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 7:10 a.m., the sun rises at 7:35 a.m. and sets at 6:57 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 7:22 p.m. (EDT) — 11 h 21 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 14.0-mile round trip takes roughly 6 h 56 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 2:32 p.m. — 4 h 25 min before sunset.
Nearby trails
- Squirrel Gap — 3.1 mi
- Turkey Pen Gap — 3.7 mi
- North Boundary — 5.8 mi
- Black Mountain — 7.1 mi